Total: £29-60
i-paper: 30p
Train ticket (Sheffield-Knaresborough): £21-30
Entrance: £4
Programme: £1
Raffle: £1
Tea (x2): £2
Knaresborough is located just North of Harrogate, roughly a 45 minute train ride from Leeds. The town was quite picturesque, with waterside cafes, an impressive stone railway bridge, and the remains of a castle. As I explored the riverside before the match, I wandered to the top of the castle, where I saw a woman dressed in full chain mail! This was a real contrast to the less illustrious surroundings of Clipstone and Atherton.
Knaresborough Town, like Clipstone, entered the NCEL in 2012/13, and are very much the new kids on the block. Today was a historic one for the club as they entered the FA Vase for the first time against Westella Hanson of the Central Midlands Northern Division. Today was also non-league day (with home internationals played on the Friday), so there could be a larger than average gate for such an historic game. The ground was fairly similar to Clipstone’s (albeit a bit smaller), with one small covered terrace behind the near goal, and a small stand of perhaps 30-40 seats just on the halfway line. I struggled to capture a decent photo of the ground with the dark clouds looming ominously in the distance – this could be the first day of genuinely bad weather this season.
The game turned out to be the most thrilling I’ve seen so far this year, made all the more exciting by the fact that this was knock-out football (with the distant carrot of Wembley), and that these two teams had not met before. Westella belied their status as underdogs, and more than matched the home side in the first quarter. They took the lead on 6 minutes with a header, and made it 2-0 on 20 minutes with a curling left-foot shot into the bottom corner. The second proved particularly controversial, as Knaresborough felt play should have been stopped for a foul – it wasn’t, and it seemed as if time had frozen when the ball hit the back of the net. A classic example of playing to the whistle - whether you agree with the referee’s decision or not. Gradually, Knaresborough started to assert themselves, and scored a deserved goal on 34 minutes, drilled in by their number 10. This set up an intriguing second half.
From the restart, Knaresborough looked like the more likely to win today, despite trailing. They scored an equaliser almost immediately, with number 7 getting on the end of a cross to slot in. Given home advantage, and Knaresborough’s league position, it now looked like they would take advantage of a tired-looking away team. Just when it looked like they would take the lead, on 55 minutes they were reduced to 10 men after a fracas in the far corner. Westella started to get back into the game, and with the home team disorganised for a short time, they made it 3-2 on 69 minutes with their number 10 slotting past the keeper one-on-one.
By this point, Knaresborough were furiously barracking the referee for almost every decision – no doubt feeling aggrieved about the second Westella goal, and the red card. This was compounded when the Westella left back flew into a thigh-high tackle with his studs up, only to be booked rather than sent off. It now looked like the home side had the ‘bit between their teeth’, and were determined the defy the one-man deficit and the what they saw as a poor referee. Late on, a cross was swung in, and Knaresborough’s number 10 volleyed a magnificient overhead kick into the roof of the net to make it 3-3. Judging by the grimace afterwards, it looked like he had pulled his hamstring in the process. Extra time beckoned, and I learnt one of the quirks of this competition – apparently if it was even after 120 minutes, it would go to a replay rather than penalties. I couldn’t help but think that neither team would want a replay after such a draining match.
After I grabbed a quick cup of tea, and extra time began, the heavens opened, and I was grateful that I had my trusty Quechua coat with me. The second half of extra time saw brilliant sunshine, and I quickly dried off as the game continued on a knife-edge. It still looked like anyone’s game, until (around) 110 minutes, when Knaresborough’s number 15 curled in a superb goal – which was almost a carbon copy of Westella’s controversial second. He slid on the grass, and you could feel this game had gone into the annals of the club’s history. They closed out the game confidently, and while Westella had one or two close chances, it was clear that Knaresborough had wrapped up a famous win. It is a credit to both teams that I’m not writing about the ground, but the game itself which was an absolute epic. My first game of the season in Yorkshire, and what a game it had proved to be!
No comments:
Post a Comment